1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a protective, external, reflective cover for the windshield region of a vehicle. Variants can protect front windows and rear windows of a vehicle. Cover deployment is quick and, when deployed, theft is deterred.
2. Description of Related Art
a. Internal Sunshields:
A large amount of the prior art is devoted to sunshields that are internal to the vehicle. Such devices are not really effective for reducing heat build-up inside a closed vehicle and, obviously, provide absolutely no protection from frost, sleet, or snow
The principal, utilitarian object of the present invention is totally differentiated from the above art because it comprises an external, reflective, weather resistant, reusable cover which effectively reduces heat build-up inside a closed, stationary vehicle from the sun's rays and also protects both the windshield and the windshield wipers in the windshield wiper bay from accumulations of frost, sleet or snow and, when deployed, has theft deterrent properties. A further, differentiating, utilitarian objective of the instant invention is that the cover may be deployed and removed simply, easily and speedily. Modifications of the principal objective include external covers of other portions of a stationary vehicle having most of the above differentiating properties.
b. Complex Covers:
A small group of external, windshield sunshields are elaborate and involve complex mechanisms as exemplified by Frotz, U.S. Pat. No. 8,240,739, Owen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,924 and also Robbins, U.S. Pat. No. 7,931,325 B2 which is less complex but requires two, flexible wire frames to support the fabric cover and uses a cut resistant wire reinforced belt and buckle which must be secured within the vehicle for theft deterrence. Such inventions are far removed from the “keep it simple” utilitarian concept of the present invention.
c. Windshield Only:
There have been many different types of vehicle, exterior, windshield covers disclosed in U.S. patents and for sale to the general public. Many of those devices are windshield only covers as exemplified by the “SUN-SHADE COVERS” offered by EmpireCovers.com. As such they provide no protection for the windshield wiper blades from degradation by ultraviolet rays from the sun nor is protection provided from accumulations of debris or leaves or snow from blocking the wipers or cabin air vents which are many times located in the wiper bay. The instant invention is distinct in that in its primary function it provides a covering of the windshield wiper bay as well as the windshield. Additional distinction is discussed in subsection “h” below.
d. Exterior Mounting Points and Suction Cups:
One major group of exterior windshield covers require installation of exterior mounting points to be installed permanently on the vehicle as exemplified by Dillow, U.S. Pat. No. 2,331,600 or Bliss U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,115. Installation of permanent mounting points observable, either externally or internally, is extremely undesirable for most vehicle owners and is avoided in the present invention. Further, an exterior cover which does not require a door or other closure member to be opened to allow removal of the cover such as Shahrokh U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,007 does not offer theft deterrence as well as being a whole vehicle cover and time consuming to install and is thus distinct from the present invention.
Another major group of exterior windshield covers require the use of separately installed mounting points such as suction cups to be used each time the cover is installed as in Osborn U.S. Pat. No. 2,599,066 or Ealey and Onsley U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,264. Keeping track of suction cups and installing them prior to cover installation is undesirable as well as time consuming and is avoided in the present invention.
e. Elastic Strap Fastenings:
A further major group of exterior windshield covers is secured to the vehicle by elastic straps. Elastic straps are not used in the instant invention. Elastic materials in general do not hold up well under external weather exposure which reduces the utility of covers having a portion of their elastic strapping externally exposed.
In the art two or more, usually four, elastic straps are usually hooked together in pairs internally to the vehicle, or hooked to existing interior points such as visor posts and exterior points such as door hinges as in Omerly, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 2,065,242 or hooked to exterior points such as fenders as in Wyeth U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,845 or Shahrokh U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,007.
A cover mounted using all exterior mounting points will not deter theft and mounting is surprisingly difficult for one person to accomplish. If the elastic straps are hooked within the vehicle, the procedure is probably simplest with Omerly; however he requires hooking to a visor and hinge on one side, deploying the cover fully and then opening the passenger door, and partially reentering the vehicle to hook the final strap. The reentering of the vehicle takes more time and effort than is desirable if a faster means is available and most current vehicles do not have an exterior hinge so that hooking to an enclosed hinge more difficult. The present invention provides the greater utility of simple and fast means for mounting an exterior vehicle windshield and wiper bay cover in which in most cases the passenger's side door need not be opened, and, if opening is required, there is no need to partially reenter the vehicle and bend down to fasten two hooks.
Hogan U.S. Pat. No. 8,132,603 B2 uses handles and both a magnetic strip and Velcro tips on elastic straps as elements of his windshield cover and protector. Hogan's magnetic strip secures the top edge of his cover to the roof. His elastic straps require fastening inside the vehicle and outside the vehicle suffering even more disadvantageous requirements than previous inventions using internal strap fastening. Hogan makes no attempt to cover the windshield wiper well; a serious omission.
Fischer U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,197 has some elements in common with the instant invention but is distinct in that it covers the whole cabin region, requires connection of the two halves down the center of the roof (depending on the operator's stature perhaps difficult or impossible) and both the rear window and windshield. Further, Fischer then secures his cover with additional elastic straps connected externally; hence not offering any theft deterrence except requiring significant time to remove (as well as install) his cover. Thus, Fischer is far from the quick, easy deployment of the instant invention.
Lundberg U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,156 has an exterior windshield cover with wings and straps placed inside doorframes. Each wing's straps have attached one cord which is long enough to keep the operator's hand from the doorway during closure. Lundberg's method requires great if not impossible operator dexterity to keep his cover taut during the last door closure when air is rushing out of the vehicle acts to raise the cover from the doorway and, at the same time, the effective length of the wing cord for holding the cover taut is rapidly changing.
f. Magnetic Holding Force:
Another group of exterior covers uses magnetic force either totally or in part to secure a vehicle cover to a vehicle. Flaherty U.S. Pat. No. 2,639,751 places a strip of “magnetic material” on the edge region of his cover and secures a row of spaced permanent magnets to the article (vehicle) to be covered. As noted above, attachment of observable mounting points such as the permanent magnets to a vehicle is undesirable.
Wytovich, U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,111 uses magnets attached to the peripheral edge of his cover which hold his cover to the exterior of a vehicle plus additional lines attached to one or more side view exterior mirrors. There is no effective theft deterrence for the exterior cover of this invention. The lack of theft deterrence is also a problem with Cheney U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,048 which is held to the vehicle with peripheral magnets as well as hooks engaging roof gutters (which have been generally eliminated in more recent vehicle production). Cheney has his operator fasten first one gutter hook and then go to the other side to engage and tension the second top hook (col. 2 & 3 lines 63 to 2). Then the lower edge may be properly positioned (on both sides) so that the magnets secure the edges of the sheet to the metallic surfaces of the vehicle (col. 3 lines 2 to 7). The operator must engage the hook on his side, visit the passenger side and then return to the driver's side for the final securing of the cover which is undesirable in terms of both user time and effort expended such that utility is questioned.
Lau, U.S. Pat. No. 7,673,924 B1 uses magnets to hold her windshield wiper well cover to the hood of a vehicle; the well cover being part of her windshield cover which is held against the windshield by attached wings with elastic loops both of which are inserted inside the vehicle through the front doors with the loops attached to the visor posts. Lau's loop attachment requires that the driver and passenger doors be opened and that the operator enter or reach inside the vehicle to secure the loop to the visor post. The operability of a flexible cover being held against the windshield both top and bottom by her arrangement is in doubt.
Johnson and Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,330, disclose magnetic inlays in a roof (not window) cover used as the primary means to hold their cover to the roof of a vehicle. Thus the purpose of the invention is distinct from that of the instant invention. They also require internally fastened elastic straps to deter theft of the cover.
Norman U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,908 uses magnets attached to both the cover itself and to the ends of straps to hold a whole vehicle cover to the exterior of the vehicle. The cover is provided with means to permit air space between the cover and the vehicle body. As distinct from the instant invention there is no theft deterrence in the Norman cover attachment means.
Thayer U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,839 B1 discloses a cover for a windshield and the two side mirrors. The top edge of his cover is held to the vehicle roof by one or more magnets and the bottom of his cover is held by wraps around the side mirror support arms. The mirrors are also provided with attached covers. Thayer's cover provides no theft deterrence. Other than the commonality of magnet(s) used to secure the top edge of the cover, Theyer is totally distinct from the instant invention.
g. Difficulty in Providing a Suitably Taut Cover:
A group of prior art patents, exemplified in the following discussion, does not provide an effective solution to the important problem of keeping their exterior protective covers taut when the last door of an otherwise closed vehicle is shut. When the last door is shut, unless closed impractically slowly, there is an out rush of air around the door edges. That out rush of air will displace in an outwardly direction any cover hanging in the doorway not either secured or otherwise held to the vehicle frame A-pillar.
“SUN-SHADE COVERS” offered by EmpireCovers.com has small wings with a compressible substance encased in a portion of the wing-end hems. The wings are to be secured within upper closure regions of the two front doors. Such covers are significantly differentiated from the instant invention by the fact that there is no attachment means to secure the wing ends during closure of the front door; hence the cover cannot be tautly secured to a closed vehicle. Much the same reasoning applies to Hooper et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,993 which uses a cover with padded wings which are designed to be enclosed within the door jams on each side of the windshield. With no specific means to secure these wings to the A-pillar the rush of air on last door closure is sure to result in a cover that is far from taut to the windshield.
Wood U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,650 B1 discloses four embodiments of a disposable windshield cover which may also cover other windows and doors. His cover is not reusable a basic distinction. His cover is held in place by enclosing wings, tabs or similar sections in door closures, tucked under windshield wipers or tucked under the hood. The final door closure of a closed vehicle will disrupt the placement of the cover portion meant to be secured in the closure by the outward rushing air. Tucked under wipers a cover does not protect them, Tucked under the hood under breezy conditions the shape of modern windshields creates an airfoil condition producing a low pressure region under the cover which under certain conditions will cause the tucked region to become untucked and flap reducing the desired protection.
Any cover whose edge is displaced by the air rush from the final door closure will obviously not act to seal the covered region from wind driven rain, sleet or snow—a primary functional purpose of the cover. Such a cover will also tend to flap in a wind of more than a gentle breeze thus being subject to early fatigue stress failure.
A workaround to avoid the air-rush problem is to open a rear door and make that door the final closure; however, requiring such an extra operation reduces utility.
Haas U.S. Pat. No. 7,823,953 B2 has some elements in common with the instant invention. Haas's cover is “opaque, reflective, snow- and ice-repellant material that shields windshields, windshield wipers and air intake manifolds of vehicles . . . and also prevents the sun's rays from penetrating the interior of vehicles through windshields.” all objects of the current invention. However, Haas is distinct and has specific elements less utilitarian than the instant invention.
Specifically, Haas's cover uses more material requiring (claim 1) “tapered widths of about one foot at each end to wrap around the door frame” whereas the instant invention cover ends within the door jam or at the extent of the passenger side A-pillar; thus using about 0.6-meters (2-feet) less material per windshield cover.
Haas requires a plurality of rods to span from the roof across the face of the windshield and wiper well to the hood (col. 4 lines 14 to 20) creating a covered open space between the roof and hood. The instant invention can use two rods; however the rods are external, horizontal versus Haas's vertical and underside. The two rods of the present invention have utility because they are used to help quickly position the cover across the windshield.
Combined with the tapered end method of securing his cover (described col. 4 lines 49 to 57) the cover will not be taut because the air rushing out as the final door is closed will of necessity tend to push the tapered end out of the vehicle unless, for example, a rear door has been opened and is later closed.
Much the same reasoning differentiates Haas's rear window cover from that of the instant invention.
Langley U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,853 B2 provides pocket covers for the doors adjacent to the windshield. His cover also extends to cover the cowl or windshield wiper well. Thickened flanges “adapted to lie between an upper portion of a front door and the adjacent cab portion of an automobile when a front door is in a closed position (or) . . . . To lie entrapped within an automobile passenger compartment.” (column 3, lines 13 to 16; 18 & 19).
Langley's invention has no means to maintain a taut windshield cover which is desirable for effective windshield protection. His method of securing his cover is totally distinct from the instant invention. Ontaneda U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,577 is an earlier discloser of top end pocket covers for doors for primary attachment of his cover. He also discloses the use of hooks or straps or magnets to secure the lower far corners of his cover (column 3, lines 1 to 11). Although his cover can be made taut if specifically dimensioned for a particular windshield and door combination when the door is opened enough to affix the cover, the cover will not be taut when the doors are in the closed position unless the cover is of elasticized material which may well lack durability. Pockets comprise a securing methodology distinct from the instant invention.